A Balloon & Bumble Bees

0A6A3631

The 48th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta started today. Unfortunately, we had heavy rains on Friday, so there was a rare fog covering the valley on Saturday morning. Only a few test balloons got off before they cancelled the launch due to a persistence of fog and low hanging clouds. I went out to the river and came across a group of paddlers waiting for the balloons to launch. There were other groups of paddlers on the river. The clouds cleared by 10:00 am, and the bumble bees were flying around in the cosmos. I decided the bumble bees were a nice stand-in for the balloons.

0A6A3622
The Canon balloon few over. It was the only balloon I saw.
0A6A3639
Sun trying to cut through the fog.
0A6A3632
Paddlers floating down the river.
0A6A3643
Waiting for the balloons.

Porcupine Promenade

We got out late last night for a walk under the stars after putting up our third sack of green chiles, making power bars, and doing various other chores that took up all of our daylight hours. A few hundred feet before the bridge that we use to cross the clearwater ditch, I saw what looked like a weed moving ahead of us. I shined my flashlight on it, and, as I suspected, it was Porky, a very large porcupine, waddling along on its way to cross the bridge ahead of us. I pulled out my phone to see if I could get a video, but by the time I got the phone convinced to take a video in the dark, Porky had crossed the bridged and headed down into the cottonwoods between the clearwater ditch and the irrigation ditch. I managed to get a short, 15 second video of Porky waddling into the undergrowth by a large cottonwood.  I assembled and arranged a short piece of music for Porky’s promenade.

The photos below are an assortment of critters and fall colors.

Cosmos & Roses

0A6A0932
Can you find the Painted Lady butterflies?

Our cosmos have started to bloom, and the roses are putting on another round of blooms. The little white and green flowers in the second and third set of photos below are a wildflower that busts open like fireworks. It reminds me of dill, and the wasps and butterflies love it.

 

Leave Me Bee Sam-I-am

0A6A0647

A bee, I’ll call Wild-B, was minding his own business collecting pollen on an echinacea, when another bee, I’ll call Sam-I-am, started buzzing Wild-B. Wild-B held his position and stuck out his pollen laden back legs as he tried to block and discourage Sam-I-am from buzzing him. Sam-I-am was quite pesky, but finally moved on after a Bumble Bee landed on the echinacea. Wild-B also took off once the Bumble Bee started making his way around the flower in Wild-B’s direction.

0A6A0648

0A6A0649

0A6A0651

0A6A0652

0A6A0653

0A6A0654

0A6A0667

0A6A0669

Clouded Colors

0A6A0576

The echinaceas are attracting the various colors of clouded sulfur butterflies: green, orange, yellow.

Green Clouded Sulfur (Colias philodice)

I was able to get the orange sulfur (Colias eurytheme), also known as the “alfalfa butterfly”, above with it’s wings open as it landed on an enchinacea. Clouded Sulfurs rarely open their wings to a flattened position when they are perched. The solid black around the edges of the wings indicate that this one is a male (females have dots on the black edges).

Backlit orange.

A male Orange fluttering around an unfazed female Green (the green has spots on the black edges of her wings).

Yellow Sulfer (Colias croceus).